This s the last in this series on honoring my teachers, so without ado here are the two people who have made the most impact on me the last few years…
My Late 40s
David Burns
Thank you for giving me tools to help myself and others. 🙏🏼
“So remember three crucial steps when you are upset: Zero in on those automatic negative thoughts and write them down. Don’t let them buzz around in your head; snare them on paper! Read over the list of ten cognitive distortions. Learn precisely how you are twisting things and blowing them out of proportion. Substitute a more objective thought that puts the lie to the one which made you look down on yourself. As you do this, you’ll begin to feel better…and boost your self-esteem.”
― David D. Burns, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
One day after doing this therapy for many years, a client emailed me after a session to tell me how badly she felt after our meeting; she said she felt misunderstood, judged and angry with me. It was painful to read, because I could see the truth in what she said. It also helped me realize I still had a lot to learn and set me on a course to uplevel my skills and challenge myself in new ways. This is how I happened upon David Burns work in the form of a new type of therapy called TEAM-CBT, which he called “therapy on steroids,” offered by The Feeling Good Institute. TEAM stands for Testing , Empathy, Agenda-Setting and Methods and I’ve spend the last several years using, learning and practicing this powerful approach to mental health. It is because of David Burns that I now have tools to help myself and those I work with go beyond relief and to take charge of their emotional health and make changes they want to make it their lives that doesn’t require years of therapy.
Early 50s
Brooke Castillo
Thank you for giving me the blueprint for badassery.
“If the reason I’m happy is my job or my bank account or my partner or what I drink or where I live, then I’m totally dependent on them and worried it will go away. But if I’m happy because of what I’m generating for myself, then I get to take it with me and feel the most confidence possible in a human life.” -Brooke Castillo
One afternoon, I was looking for podcasts on a psychological bias called the Confirmation Bias, The Life School Podcast showed up in the lineup. Historically skeptical of the Life Coach genre, I gave it a listen and new right away this was someone I could learn from. An energetic blend of savvy businesswoman and psychological ninja, her concepts are often mind-benders that challenge conventional notions and norms. With unapologetic confidence, she’s helped me integrate my training, knowledge and experience into a cohesive foundation that’s helped me settle my psyche on solid ground and inspired me to create an online course I’ll be launching this summer.
I hope sharing my experience of these amazing people has inspired you to find your own teachers, mentors and guides.
